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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26297530">Child Style</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poker/pseuds/Poker'>Poker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Age Regression/De-Aging, Child Triple Threat, Everyone wants to capture them, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Modified Triple Threat Ending, Selectively Mute Henry Stickmin, They’re adorable and want to escape, They’re trying their best</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:00:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,224</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26297530</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poker/pseuds/Poker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When a CCC mission goes wrong, the Triple Threat trio are turned into children! And there’s a lot of interest in these amnesiac children. Interest they’d rather not have, thank you very much.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charles Calvin &amp; Ellie Rose &amp; Henry Stickmin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>379</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Child Style</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, this is a modified Triple Threat ending. Toppats still got the space station set up but triple threat managed to get a good chunk of their crew captured so they’re running a lot of rescue missions. While Triple Threat deals with the new Toppat heists and CCC.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Man, that was a close one.” Charles said, glancing back over his shoulder. </p><p>Henry didn’t answer, grimacing in pain as he rolled his shoulder. The mission had gone to hell in a handbasket. It was supposed to be a rather simple mission to visit a CCC base and do some covert poking around to make sure they didn’t create anything actually illegal.</p><p>But when Henry and Ellie walked in, they found out that not only did the base have illegal weaponry, they were in full insurrection mode. Charles had to hide the helicopter in the surrounding woods to come pull them out of the ambush.</p><p>The door creaked open and both men jumped, raising their weapons.</p><p>“It’s just me.” Ellie said, waving as she stepped inside. They were hiding out in a disused storage closet, waiting for backup. “I’ve got good news and bad news.”</p><p>“They’ve decided to surrender?” Charles tried.</p><p>“I wish! Nope, the good news is that the government should be here in ten.” Ellie reloaded her gun as she continued. “The bad news is that they have anti aircraft weaponry that we’ve got to deal with before backup can get in. And their controls are in the main lab.”</p><p>“We need a vacation.” Henry said softly. The other two nodded at the sentiment. A nice vacation that wouldn’t try to kill them. “Windows.”</p><p>“That sounds dangerous.” Charles said, catching on immediately. “It just might work!”</p><p>The closet had plungers so they used those to climb around the outside of the building. Ellie found the right window first, waving them over.</p><p>The two guards went down with hardly a sound. Henry held up the keys he found in their pocket before applying the keys to the door with a little more aggression than necessary.</p><p>Understandable, this mission had sucked from the very start.</p><p>“Guards! I thought I told you not to interrupt!” The head scientist yelled, turning around. His face reddened when he saw them. “It’s you!”</p><p>“Team Triple Threat, at your service.” Ellie said. Beside her, Charles and Henry waved. “You going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”</p><p>The scientist pulled a gun. </p><p>“Hard way it is.” Charles finished. Henry pulled a firecracker out of his pocket, lunging for the anti aircraft machine. Charles went around the side to grab the scientist. That left Ellie to distract him.</p><p>“Hey! Over here, dumbbell! Yeah, I’m talking to you books for brains!” Ellie yelled. She ducked behind one of the prototypes as the scientist screamed in rage, firing at her. </p><p>Distraction duty. Much better if they brought the stereo but she could work with this.</p><p>There was a thump and a choked off swear. “All clear!” Charles said. “Thanks for keeping him off of me.”</p><p>“No problem.” Ellie said. She stepped out from behind the machine. “How’s the controls?”</p><p>There was a pop and a brief flash of light. Henry stood, flashing a thumbs up. Not much to control with a bunch of burnt wires and metal hanging out the panel now.</p><p>“I think we can call this clear!” Charles said, pumping his fist in the air. “Man, that was so cool! Wish I had my helicopter though.”</p><p>“Is that supposed to be glowing?” Henry said, pointing at the machine beside Ellie. She frowned, turning to look at it.</p><p>“Definitely not.” There were bullet holes splattered up the side. Ellie backed away as the machine started to rumble. “Guys! Get clear!”</p><p>It all happened so fast. Henry lunged forward to pull Ellie to safety, Charles went to grab Henry, and Ellie dove towards the relative safety of the lab table.</p><p>They had a good run. They should have taken that vacation.</p><p>And then the world was filled with bright light.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Outside, military police sirens began to wail.</p>
<hr/><p>Galeforce was getting too old for this kind of worry. His covert ops team had just gone dark and so far, they could find no sign of the team. None of that pointed to good news.</p><p>He had picked some of his best forces to plunge into the depths of the main building. Two were already injured from still active traps in the hallways, yet they hadn’t found anything.</p><p>“Sir.” One of his men said. “The main lab should be up this way. That’s where they were last seen.”</p><p>“Carry on.” Galeforce said. “I’ll be right behind you.”</p><p>“Maybe you should stay out of this room. It’s possible that the traps could be active and even more dangerous than the hallways.”</p><p>“I’ll be right behind you.” Galeforce repeated, glaring the man down. That got the soldier to turn around and move on. There was no way that Galeforce wouldn’t be investigating this lab personally.</p><p>He knew as soon as he stepped in that Triple Threat had been here. A plunger was lying just below an open window, and few of the machine prototypes were nothing but scorched metal.</p><p>One of his technicians was standing beside one, looking at the smoking components. “Sir, it looked like this one was active recently.” He said. “The scorch marks are different, looks like this one activated and then exploded. Possibly at the same time actually.”</p><p>Galeforce rubbed his chin. Did the squad have to flee the explosion?</p><p>There was a soft clattering sound behind him and Galeforce spun around. Nothing. Until he looked down.</p><p>A child stared back at him. Galeforce has a brief horrified moment of thinking the scientists had moved into testing on children when he saw the familiar red headphones.</p><p>“Charles?” He said. The boy looked confused but curious, glancing back behind him.</p><p>“Well, that explains why they didn’t show up.” Someone muttered behind them. “Holy shit.”</p><p>“Language.” Galeforce said. He took a few steps to the side and yes, there was the familiar shock of red hair and now oversized white jacket, hidden behind one of the storage cabinets. They stared at him with clear distrust. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“Go away.” Ellie snapped. After thinking for a moment, she leaned out and snagged the much smaller Charles, pulling him into their hidden huddle.</p><p>“I can’t do that. You need to come out here where we can check you over.” Galeforce said. He motioned behind his back, knowing the soldiers would get it. </p><p>“No.” Ellie said. “You never talk with kidnappers!”</p><p>“We are not kidnappers, we are trying to rescue you.” Galeforce said, keeping his voice steady. </p><p>“That’s what they all say.” Ellie said darkly. She glanced down as Charles tugged her sleeve, the motion almost hidden by the shadows.</p><p>That was the distraction his squad had been waiting for. The soldiers who had been working their way around swooped in, each picking up a kid.</p><p>Charles hung limply, still looking confused. Ellie howled in rage, lashing out at her attacker. The soldier holding Henry struggled the most, although he was quiet, Henry was as wriggly as an eel and just as angry.</p><p>Galeforce stepped out of the room, pressing a hand to his face. Children. How had they even managed to do that?</p><p>His quiet troubles were interrupted by the medic stepping out. “All done.” The medic said. “They weren’t terribly off. Henry’s got a shrapnel cut on his cheek, Ellie had minor burns on her back, and Charles had scraped up his hands. They’re just very angry right now.”</p><p>There was an angry howl from inside. The medic winced but Galeforce didn’t flinch.</p><p>“And the children issue.” Galeforce said, regarding his medic.</p><p>“It’s an initial observation but they’ve likely lost around eighteen years each, judging by Charles. Not too sure about Ellie or Henry.” The medic shrugged, looking way out of depth. “They clearly recognize each other to some degree, get angry if they’re separated, but they don’t recognize us at all. Want me to sedate them?”</p><p>“If you do that, they’ll never trust us.” Galeforce said. Sedation as adults had led to several fights. As children, none of them would understand they were safe. “Keep them close to each other and move them out to the cars. And keep away from the war zone.”</p><p>“Where are you going, sir?” The medic said. Galeforce rubbed his temples, trying to stave off the impending headache.</p><p>“To call in some engineers and make sure the kids are kept in military custody until we fix this damn thing.”</p><p>The initial evaluation was promising but not ideal. The machine was completely destroyed but they had turned up the notes on its creation. The machine could likely reverse what it had done but they’d have to rebuild it from scratch, a process that would take a few months.</p><p>Galeforce reaches for his cup of coffee. That was going to be a long few months of trial and error. For them and for the kids.</p><p>At least at one of the minor bases, they should be safe for now.</p>
<hr/><p>Charles doesn’t think this looks like the adventure he had been hoping for. The grey room was kind of empty and there was nothing to look at.</p><p>He was also a lot colder than most of his nice books said. A warm arm wrapped around his shoulder and Charles looked up at Henry.</p><p>“Thanks.” He said softly. Henry smiles back. Henry was very quiet but that was okay because he was also very nice! And he still kinda talkedish, it was just like a fun game of charades!</p><p>“Scoot over.” Ellie said. Charlie did it because even though Ellie was kind of bossy, she was also very warm when she leaned up against his side. “You think kidnappers would do something by now.”</p><p>Charles’ face scrunched up. “I don’t want them to hurt us at all!” He said. Henry nodded, glancing back at the doorway warily.</p><p>“Well, they have to do something so we can escape, duh.” Ellie said. “I can’t get close enough to pickpocket them, what about you, Henry?”</p><p>Henry shook his head but Charles was still a little worried. “Isn’t stealing bad?” He said.</p><p>“Well, kidnapping is too.” Ellie huffed. “And I think stealing is okay, just other people don’t like stealing because they like their stuff. Makes more sense in my head.”</p><p>It probably did. Charles knew a lot of stuff made sense to him that never seemed to make sense to his parents.</p><p>The adults outside grew louder, prompting the kids to huddle together more. Charles didn’t like it when adults yelled. Henry petted the top of his head.</p><p>“Don’t worry, we’ll look out for you.” Ellie said. “You’re the littlest, so we gotta make sure you’re okay.”</p><p>Charles looked up at her. “Promise?” He said. Both of them nodded. “I trust you.”</p><p>Henry pushes Charles behind him when the door opens. It was a bit awkward but if Charles craned his head, he could still see around Henry. </p><p>There was a really old guy with a beard and a super thick jacket. “Dey are just children.” He said, his voice sounding kind of like one of Charles’ cartoon characters. “Vhat happened?”</p><p>“You’re not authorized to be here-“</p><p>“Ve are de wall. Ve are authorized anyvhere.” The man said. Charles flinched as the man looked back at them. “Dey vill be coming vith us.”</p><p>“They’re children! You can’t expect to make children serve out sentences for crimes they haven’t even committed yet!”</p><p>Ellie looked back at them, eyes wide. Was that how prison worked? Charles didn’t know! The worst he had gotten was really long timeouts where his parents didn’t talk to him.</p><p>“Den de chief vill be deciding vhat happens next.” The man said. “No more funny business vith your pardons and games. Pack em up.”</p><p>“Should we run?” Ellie whispered. Charles shivered. Should they?</p><p>Henry shook his head, waving his hands like he was catching something. “They’d catch us too fast?” Ellie said. Now he looked mad. “And then they’ll be mad and that’ll be worse.”</p><p>“I don’t like that.” Charles said. Ellie and Henry were big kids so they could probably run really fast but Charles was still little.</p><p>“I could do it.” Ellie said. She looked so angry and miserable. “I’ve run from caretakers before and I think Henry has as well? But I don’t think all of us could. I hate this.”</p><p>Henry nodded, grabbing them by the hands when one of the soldier guys came back and motioned for them to stand. The adult looked really mad.</p><p>They were herded out of the base and into a truck. That ride was super cool even if they were being kidnapped! And Charles had to play the quiet game.</p><p>And then into a train. Charles held tight to his new friends as they were pushed into another room. This one had lots of blankets though and someone had even left them a few juice boxes. </p><p>Ellie popped one open, sniffing it. “I think they’re good?” She said. Henry nicely opened one for Charles and passed it to him.</p><p>“What now?” Charles said after he had a sip of apple juice. The two big kids looked at each other.</p><p>“We look for a way to escape.” Ellie said. “And if we don’t find one, we’ll make it.”</p><p>But how were they supposed to escape when there were all these adults around?</p>
<hr/><p>Henry was really freaked out right now! When the caretakers said they would send him away for stealing and having fun, this was not what he pictured.</p><p>Ellie and Charles were good. Henry didn’t know why he knew they were good, but they were. They understood that Henry didn’t like to talk to people and were nice about it. He wanted to protect them. </p><p>And that meant stepping up as the oldest. Henry has been part way through arranging the blankets to sleep on when the train slammed to a stop, sending them in a skid across the room. </p><p>“What was that?” Ellie said. Henry shrugged, heading for the door. He couldn’t see much beyond the bars, but two adults ran by their hallway without checking on them.</p><p>Time for their escape!</p><p>Henry turned sideways to get through, suddenly a bit thankful that the caretakers never fed him much. It made him just skinny enough to squeeze through the bars.</p><p>He had to hop on his tiptoes to grab the keys off their hook, walking back to unlock the door. Ellie nodded at him, holding out two juice boxes for him to put in his pockets. Hers and Charles’ were already stuffed.</p><p>There was a lot more yelling to the left towards the front so the trio headed towards the back of the train. It was weirdly quiet back here. Did everyone leave? Could you leave a train?</p><p>Henry used his keys to open up the next door, leading them into a sitting car. No jail cells here! </p><p>“The next door should lead us outside.” Ellie said, pointing ahead. “If we can find a phone, we can call someone. Or hitchhike.”</p><p>“I thought you’re not supposed to talk to strangers.” Charles said. Henry waved a hand to tell him it was okay. He didn’t really know how to explain it. They had talked to lots of strangers, like the one that had put a bandage on Henry’s cheek and asked weird questions.</p><p>Henry pulled the last door open and hopped down so he could help Charles down too. Ellie hopped down all by herself. “There’s people.” She said.</p><p>The people hadn’t seen them yet because they were facing away. Henry liked their hats.</p><p>He pointed around the side of the car. From that angle, they’d be super hidden from these people and anyone on the other side. Ellie nodded and they headed for the corner.</p><p>And walked straight into another adult. Henry jumped back, pushing the others behind him. This one wasn’t familiar, but he had a big top hat and bushy orange mustache.</p><p>“The hell are kids doing ‘ere?” The man said. Henry inched backwards. “Wait. Ya look familiar.”</p><p>Henry couldn’t dodge fast enough to stop the man from picking him up by the collar. His grip was tight no matter how much Henry wriggled.</p><p>Ellie made a growl like an angry dog, stepping forward to kick the man in the shin. “Put him down!” She said.</p><p>“Henry?” The man said, his accent thick. Henry stared at him before slowly nodding. That was his name. “Redhead’s Ellie. Then there’s the pilot guy, Charlie or Charles. Whatever.”</p><p>How did he know their names? </p><p>There was a crackle of static and Henry jerked away. The man let out a rough sigh. “I’ve got your friend ‘ere, so don’t even think about runnin’” He said, looking down at Ellie and Charles. </p><p>Henry motioned for them to leave. He’d be fine! He had gotten out of worse trouble before! But Ellie shook her head firmly as she pulled Charles closer. He was touched by the thought but also really annoyed.</p><p>“Right Hand Man?” The staticky thing said. The man pressed something that looked like a walkie talkie.</p><p>“‘Ey, Reg.” Right said. “Found somethin’ you’re gonna lose your mind over. Bringin’ them back with me.”</p><p>That didn’t sound good. </p><p>“Right, you know I hate when you do this.” Reg said. “Get ready to go, Sven’s secured the former prisoners and is ready to head back.”</p><p>“I’ll get there.” Right said. He looked back down at them. “Just follow along and no one gets hurt. Got it?”</p><p>It didn’t look like they had a choice. Henry nodded, and after a moment, so did the others. </p><p>They were pushed into a machine that looked a little like what Henry imagined spaceships to look like. Only then did Right set Henry back on his feet. </p><p>Looks like they were stuck again.</p><p>Henry beelined to a cozy looking couch with his friends, stopping to help Charles up before he climbed on. The couch was really comfy. Like even comfier than Henry’s old bed. Before he knew it, he was asleep.</p><p> </p><p>By the time Right turned back around, the tired kids had fallen asleep in a puppy pile. He threw a blanket over them and went back to work. His job was decoying any government patrols to follow him instead of the main group, so he had quite a bit of piloting to do.</p><p>He was right though. Reginald lost his mind when he saw them.</p><p>“Right. Right they’re so small.” Reginald said, sounding distressed. “I hate them, but they’re so small. What are we supposed to do with them?”</p><p>“Do they remember us?” Sven said, looking closer at the kids. He tilted his head to the side. </p><p>Right tilted his head back, folding his arms. “Doubt it. They looked surprised as hell to see me, but more like kids getting caught than recognizin’.”</p><p>“You guys can decide then.” Sven said, brushing himself off. “I’m going to go check up on the members we rescued.”</p><p>Reginald and Right looked at each other.</p><p>“Stuff em in one of the dorm rooms and figure it out in the mornin’? Or what counts for mornin’ up ‘ere?” Right suggested, yawning. </p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“They’re so <i>small</i>.”</p><p>“I know, Reg.”</p>
<hr/><p>“Reginald. What do you want for the children?”</p><p>“Dey vill be coming back to us.”</p><p>“Oh, I don’t know if I even want to give them back gentlemen. Maybe they’ll prefer to stay with some real thieves who more appreciative of their skills.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ages!<br/>Henry: 12<br/>Ellie: 8<br/>Charles: 6<br/>So the medic’s estimate is actually a bit off, but Henry and Ellie are pretty small for their age so it’s hard to get an accurate year just by looking at the three. And the fact none of the kids want to answer what their age is.</p><p>The poor kids, they’re just getting yanked around everywhere! Yes, I do headcanon that the Toppats are a bit soft for kids because one of their members was adopted and they seemed fine with another member leaving to see his wife. And the wall is a slightly a bit soft because well, they’re kids and even the prison has to see that. Doesn’t stop them too much but they do note it.</p><p>I might do a sequel to this.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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